Under the Act and Commission regulations, affiliated committees share
contribution limits. The complaint alleged that the New Democrat Network
(NDN), Dooley for Congress and a number of other committees made and
accepted excessive contributions during the 2000 election cycle by
virtue of being affiliated with each other. However, the Commission
concluded that there was insufficient evidence to find that the
committees were affiliated. Nonetheless, there was reason to believe
that certain NDN solicitations did not include proper disclaimers. But
in light of the no reason to believe finding concerning the affiliation
allegation and the limited disbursements for the solicitations at issue,
the Commission sent an admonishment letter.

DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD:

Documents from this matter are available
from the Commissionís web site at fec.gov

by entering 5121 under case number. They are also available in the
FECs Public Records Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.

*There are four administrative stages to the FEC enforcement process:

1. Receipt of proper complaint

3. "Probable cause" stage

2. "Reason to believe" stage

4. Conciliation stage

It requires the votes of at least four of the six Commissioners to take
any action. The FEC can close a case at any point after reviewing a
complaint. If a violation is found and conciliation cannot be reached, then
the FEC can institute a civil court action against a respondent.